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HOME DEPOT CHAMPIONSHIPS


November 7, 2002


Jelena Dokic


LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Q. Jelena, I thought you were tired. Didn't you say you were tired?

JELENA DOKIC: Me, yeah.

Q. So where do you find --

JELENA DOKIC: I got my energy back. I said it may be the last match you play, so might as well try.

Q. She said, it was the worst match of her life today that she played. How did you feel you played and do you feel she played that bad?

JELENA DOKIC: I think she was nervous, possibly. I think she gets nervous often with big matches, and yeah, I played enough to win the match and could have played a lot better than what I did, but I was happy. My aim was just to get through the first one and I did it, so I'm happy.

Q. So your bigger match experience paid off?

JELENA DOKIC: I think so. I was down break points in the last two games. I think I was tougher on the bigger points. I think after the first two games that I lost, I think I was in the points. I kept the ball in play.

Q. What gave you the sense that she was nervous?

JELENA DOKIC: I don't know. She did a lot of double-faults, and she does that, I think, when she gets nervous. I played her six times this year, and every time she's played different, so when it's been the bigger matches, I think she got a lot more nervous than in the smaller tournaments. I think she gets a little bit nervous in finals and bigger occasions. I think that's what maybe happened today.

Q. Do you find that you generally stick to one game plan or alter it depending on who you have to face?

JELENA DOKIC: Depends on who you have to play. She can get a lot of balls in. It depends on how the person plays in the match. You have to go out there and see what they do. Most of the time you have a game plan and play to the worst side.

Q. What's it like playing with so few people in the arena?

JELENA DOKIC: It's different. There is not too many people, but, you know, we play in both full stadiums and empty ones, so it's something that I don't think you take so much notice of.

Q. With the silence, do you find yourself focusing even more without the screaming fans?

JELENA DOKIC: No, because it's a big stadium and not too many people, so it's a little bit difficult to get used to. It's not so easy to play when there is a lot of movement going on. It takes adjustment to the court and surface and everything.

Q. A couple of people have mentioned about how tired they are this time of year. You play a lot. Do you think the season is too long?

JELENA DOKIC: I mean, it's 11 months of tennis. Also, only pretty much one full month to rest, which is not much at all. They moved it now one week further, which doesn't help. It's a very long season, and you really have to pick your tournaments. There is so many big tournaments that you cannot go to them all. Some you have to play the clay, the hard court and everything. You have to warm up before the Grand Slams. Maybe it should be looked into shortening the schedule and making less tournaments. I don't know. I think a lot of players are getting tired and injured. I think it's just the schedule that does it.

Q. Now, you've played, I think, if I counted right, this will be the 29th tournament you played this year. After going through this year, would you play this many again next year?

JELENA DOKIC: No. I did it the last two years. Mentally I'm really feeling it much more than physically. It's hard to fight out there when you play so many matches and tournaments. The last five or six tournaments, it's hard because your mind is not on the court so much, and definitely maybe only 20, 21 tournaments next year. I'll cut down a lot.

Q. When you look at your record, you have been in a lot of finals, quarters and semis, but you have had a lot of, quite a few, first-match losses. Is that part of it, you know, being hard to focus every week?

JELENA DOKIC: Yeah, my year has been fine. Just the last few months, I think that has to do with just being tired. I haven't had too many first-round losses until after the US Open. Again, that has to do with travel and being tired. That's all.

Q. Do you have enough in you to challenge Serena if she's playing well?

JELENA DOKIC: Like I said, my aim was to get through the first one. I did that, and, you know, I think she's the one that didn't lose a match or two this year and has been unbeatable. I have no pressure. I'll enjoy it. I have nothing to lose. It's the last tournament. I achieved my goal a little bit here, and especially losing to Myskina the last tournament and it was nice to get her back.

Q. How are you going to approach playing her? Are you going to go all out and go for the lines?

JELENA DOKIC: You have to. You have to go for it and not be tentative. If it goes in, it goes in. You cannot afford to just hit in the middle of the court and high balls. You have to go for it, I think, against her and see how you go.

Q. Although you don't know your opponent in the quarterfinals, what do you think of your chances in the tournament?

JELENA DOKIC: I think when it gets to the last eight or last four, I think anyone has a chance, so you just have to go a match at a time. You know, you have maybe one or two favorites more than the others, but it's a championship so you don't look at it that way. You go a match at a time.

Q. How does this compare to the other Grand Slams? I think this is the so-called fifth Grand Slam. In terms of the atmosphere, is it like that or do you approach it like that?

JELENA DOKIC: You try to. It's not yet such a big tournament with so many people, but hopefully in a few years, it will become bigger and better. I know it's very hard to always be the Grand Slam, but the championships is just another -- it's pretty much a Grand Slam and it's only the 16 best of us. You try to approach it like it's a Grand Slam a little bit, but it's still a little more of a normal tournament than that.

End of FastScripts….

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